For another perspective on Christmas Sunday services, read “Why Our Church Is Having Christmas Day Services” by Dustin Messer.
I’m not normally one to refuse the advice of Kevin DeYoung.
Last time Christmas fell on a Sunday, DeYoung wrote an article titled “A Plea to Pastors: Don’t Cancel Church on Christmas.” He states many reasons why churches might be tempted to cancel services on Christmas Day, and he pleads with pastors to stay the course and plan a Christmas Sunday service. While we respect DeYoung and the argument he made, the pastors at our church ultimately decided to refuse his plea.
Why?
Our context makes a Christmas Day service uniquely difficult. And though we won’t be having service on Christmas, we participate with sister congregations in a joint Christmas Eve service that allows us to gather and create a space for nonbelievers in our city. We believe there’s biblical freedom to cancel a church service under these conditions.
Context Is Key
Context is the primary reason we canceled our Christmas Day service. I serve as the lead pastor of a church plant of about 100 people just outside Boston in the urban city of Somerville, Massachusetts. Somerville is an extremely transient and secular city.
Like many church plants, we meet in a shared space. We can’t just roll up on Sunday, flip a few switches, and be ready for a church service. We need to put out chairs, set up sound equipment, and place signs outside. While we have less work to do than many church plants, there’s still a considerable amount of setup required. Many churches in our context meet in public spaces where meeting on Christmas Day is just not an option.
Like many church plants, we meet in a shared space. We can’t just roll up on Sunday, flip a few switches, and be ready for a church service.
The transient nature of our city also means many of our most committed members are traveling around the country or world for Christmas and are unable to set up chairs and run sound. It’s not simply that people wouldn’t come to a Christmas Day service because they’re staying home for their family traditions. If our people were in town, they’d almost certainly come to any service we put together! The problem is around 80 percent of our church travels for Christmas.
The secular nature of the city also means our neighbors are uninterested in visiting our church on Christmas morning. Our area is so far post-Christian that it’s exceedingly unlikely a sudden influx of non-Christians will wake up to visit our church on Christmas Day.
While we won’t have a service on Christmas Day, we’ll meet for our traditional joint Christmas Eve service with our sister congregations. We’re a part of a small network of four independent churches in the Boston area. Over the years, this Christmas Eve gathering has allowed us to reconnect with friends and family across the four churches, and it’s also served as an opportunity to invite non-believing friends to a church service.
Our Christmas Eve service isn’t a pageant or show. It’s a gathering. With candles and congregational singing and the preaching of God’s Word. It’s a joyous occasion to experience the joy and love of Christ.
There’s Scriptural Freedom
Lastly, we have freedom to meet or not on special Sundays like this. We don’t think canceling one Sunday worship gathering puts us in danger of violating the Hebrews 10:25 command to not forsake gathering together. In this passage, the author of Hebrews addresses a group of people in the church who have made it a habit of forsaking the gathering. One Sunday does not a habit make. Let him who has never missed a church service throw the first stone!
This decision made sense for us, but it won’t necessarily make sense for others. I’d never critique another church’s decision to meet on Christmas Day. I’m reminded of Paul’s words in Romans 14:5–7:
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.
We all agree Christmas Day is a special day. It’s not “just another Sunday.” But whether your church decides to worship together on Christmas or not, honor the Lord in your decision.
Whether your church decides to worship together on Christmas or not, honor the Lord in your decision.
It was a difficult one for our church leaders. So let me end with a plea to church members: support your pastors and make their leadership of you a joy. If your leaders decide to have a service on Christmas Day, make every effort to be there. If they cancel the service on Christmas Day, assume the best of them. Church leaders need your grace, support, and love even when you may disagree.
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We need one another. Yet we don’t always know how to develop deep relationships to help us grow in the Christian life. Younger believers benefit from the guidance and wisdom of more mature saints as their faith deepens. But too often, potential mentors lack clarity and training on how to engage in discipling those they can influence.
Whether you’re longing to find a spiritual mentor or hoping to serve as a guide for someone else, we have a FREE resource to encourage and equip you. In Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, Melissa Kruger, TGC’s vice president of discipleship programming, offers encouraging lessons to guide conversations that promote spiritual growth in both the mentee and mentor.
